High interest rates and project blowouts have battered off-the-plan developers but a new NSW Government program aims to turn the tide.
The state has launched the expressions-of-interest stage for the $1-billion program it announced in June.
The Presale Finance Guarantee program will allow the state to acquire off-the-plan homes in eligible residential developments.
Early estimates suggested it could back presales for up to 5000 apartments and help developers secure finance for around 15,000 new homes over the next five years.
The program aims to unlock finance and “bring construction forward” in NSW, where off-the-plan apartments in metro areas make up a smaller market share of total available stock than elsewhere in the country, according to Urbis.
The five-year initiative will allow the government to buy up to 50 per cent of the homes in off-the-plan projects.
Eligible homes can be valued at up to $2 million each, with support from $5 million up to $50 million per project.
The NSW Government will commit up to $1 billion in presales through the use of a revolving fund.
As presales thresholds are reached, developers will be able to withdraw the commitments and release the program’s funds to roll over on to a new project.
Alternatively, if presales do not eventuate, developers can call on the guarantee. The government will purchase the completed homes at a discounted rate for on-sale or use as affordable housing.
The government said that meeting presale requirements was one of the most common challenges cited by developers in securing project finance, and was therefore a “key hurdle” to housing delivery in the state.
It said that since 2008, presale requirements were reported to have increased to at least 100 per cent of the amount of debt being sought, according to its 2024 review of housing supply challenges.
But the NSW Government acknowledged that actually getting homes built was the “next big challenge”.
It said that in the past five years, the time between approval and commencement of new apartments has increased 39 per cent—from 5.6 months to 7.8 months.
There were more than 13,000 developments approved but not begun in the state, it said.
Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest said the program was a “smart way to leverage government funds”.
“It means that a developer can proceed with a project even if they do not have all of the required presales in place,” Forrest said.
He said it was a “win-win” situation.
“Having the guarantee in place there means finance for construction flows into projects earlier and at lower interest rates,” Forrest said.
Under the expressions of interest, applications for projects with planning and either indicative or binding finance approvals that are ready to build in the next six months will be assessed first.
